There will most certainly trades in the first round of the NFL draft and sometimes they come on draft day. The Arizona Cardinals are familiar with them, having traded up in the first round just two years ago to acquire quarterback Josh Rosen.
Could they be involved in another draft-day trade?
In Draft Wire managing editor Luke Eastlering’s new mock draft, they are. They don’t trade up. They trade back.
They move back to the 13th pick overall, swapping picks with the Indianapolis Colts.
The Colts move up to take a quarterback and land Utah State’s Jordan Love.
Moving back to No. 13 takes the Cardinals out of position to land three of the top four tackles. The one who is still available is Georgia’s Andrew Thomas. They pass on him and land Oklahoma receiver CeeDee Lamb.
This is a grand-slam scenario for the Cardinals, who trade back five spots, get additional draft resources (likely the No. 34 overall pick, and perhaps more), and still land the player they might have taken at their original slot. Lamb obviously made big things happen with Kyler Murray for the Sooners, and reuniting them would be a huge win for Kliff Kingsbury and his offense.
If the Cardinals can manage to land Lamb, who is still one of the favorites for the Cardinals to take even if they stay at No. 8, and pick up another second-round pick, it might be as good a scenario as the Cardinals can find.
However, by not taking a tackle, it does make it harder to find someone who could play right away.
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Ep. 260
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Ep. 259
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